Art as Offering

In many religions and cultures, altars are used to present offerings, tokens of sacrifice. Over thousands of years, altars have become places where people seek solace and guidance. OffCenter Community Arts and the New Mexico Art Therapy Association will be accepting entries for the show Altars of Light on March 25 and 26 from noon to 6 p.m. at OffCenter (808 Park SW). The organizers are looking for art that incorporates the altar and "its image as sacred ground to promote healing from the wounds of sexual violence." Each artist is invited to submit up to two entries for this juried show. There is no entry fee. The opening reception for Altars of Light will be at OffCenter on Friday, April 2, from 5 to 8 p.m. Go to offcenterarts.org.

With Bright Spines at q-Staff theatre

While calling q-Staff’s newest work a play isn’t totally inaccurate, the term fails to encompass all that With Bright Spines strives for. The piece—originally slated for its premiere during Revolutions International Theatre Festival but postponed due to a conflict with q-Staff theatre’s landlords—is less a re-enactment of a script than the creation of a whole-bodied sensory experience.

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On an Indian Summer day in 1967, a newly smitten Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe reclined on the grass in Washington Square Park in New York City. A tourist couple stopped and looked down at them. The wife squealed, excited to see real artists and said her husband should take their picture. He disagreed, saying Smith and Mapplethorpe were “just kids.” In this moment, before she would become the world-famous poet and rocker and he a groundbreaking photographer, both observations were true.